I recommend actually trying it (e.g. PostgreSQL CTE) on a problem you are trying to solve, if you haven't already. People tend to report the bad cases, and sta

I recommend actually trying it (e.g. PostgreSQL CTE) on a problem you are trying to solve, if you haven't already. People tend to report the bad cases, and stay silent for the good cases, which can contribute to a sense of fear of the feature. It could have started from a real issue, or it could just be someone trying to solve the traveling salesman problem with fake data and then blogging when it's slow.